"A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over, beginning with a working simple system." -John Gall

I built a pretty good daily tracking template, and I evolved it over time. It's serving me pretty well now. I'd like to show you the evolution.

Version 0 - I realized that tracking my time would be a good thing. I started writing down just one or two things per day.

Here's what my first day of tracking looked like:

26 May - Success

Stretched, situps, pushups.
Took a vitamin.
Did some writing on Critical Thinking.

Version 1 - About a month later, I formalized my daily tracking with some things I wanted to pay attention to every day. I created a template for the first time.

**THIS TEMPLATE RETIRED 18 JULY 2010**

General things to reflect on:
*Be decisive. Look at it once, make a decision, done.
*Live in the borderlands, awareness of the end in my heart

Time awake:
Total sleep:
Vitamin?:
Stretching?:
Walk/run?:
Situps?:
Listen to audio?:
Food?:
Most key project:
Next milestones:
Objectives for today:
Time started:
Result:

Checklist:
*What are my key life goals? Spent 5 minutes on this.
*Is my urgent to do list clear?
*Is my people to do list clear?
*Look at my current to-do list. Is any of that suitable to do?
*The second most important project right now is SebastianMarshall.com. Do something with that?

End of day:
What did I do right to move me towards my goals?
What would I do differently if I had the day to live over?

--Plan tomorrow

Version 2 - The version 1 template worked pretty well. I wasn't sure what I wanted to pay attention to, so I listed some things and said, "Now consider..." which meant just think and try on those things. Eventually I nailed down some things that were important to pay attention to, and I formalized that into version 2.

-------------------------------------------
GENERAL:
*Be decisive. Look at it once, make a decision, done.
*Don't check email unless I'm ready to write back immediately
*Set alarm at end of day
*Stop and reflect periodically
-------------------------------------------
START OF DAY:
Time awake:
Total sleep:
Vitamin C and Fish oil:
Stretching?:
Walk/run?:
Brush/floss:
Situps?:
Listen to audio?:
Food?:
Breathe:
Borderlands:
-------------------------------------------
MOST KEY ITEM:
Next milestones:
Objectives for today:
Time started:
Result:
-------------------------------------------
PEOPLE:
Blog post?:
New People (FB, Twitter, emails):
Current people:
Help someone:
Consorting:
Emails in box, start:
Emails in box, finish (and - why they there?):
-------------------------------------------
GENERAL:
*What are my key life goals? Spent 5 minutes on this.
*Expenses for the day (estimate)?
*Cash gotten or worked towards today
-------------------------------------------
END OF DAY:
What did I do right to move me towards my goals?
What would I do differently if I had the day to live over?
Plan tomorrow

Version 3 - Version 2 worked great, but I grew out of it. One of the biggest things was I was filling in my template with time tracking which was making things messy and hard to review later. I just cleaned up and made my template more pretty. I also renamed and made more accurate a few sections. I grew out of "Most Key Objective" because now I've often got 4-5 things to do in a day. So I mixed that in to think about at the start of the day and added a general time tracking section instead. Also, I added a "Challenges" section to pay attention to things I still get wrong some days.

-------------------------------------------
REMEMBER:
*Be decisive. Look at it once, make a decision, done.
*Stop and reflect periodically
-------------------------------------------
START OF DAY ROUTINE:
Time awake:
Total sleep:
Vitamin C and Fish oil:
Brush/floss:
Stretching:
Check calendar, anything interesting?
Is there anything time sensitive?
What is my most key objective for the day?
Walk/run:
Situps:
Listen to audio:
Food:
Breathe:
Borderlands:
Planning:
-------------------------------------------
PEOPLE:
Blog post:
New People:
Current people:
Help someone:
Consorting:
Emails in box, start:
Emails in box, finish (and - why they there?):
-------------------------------------------
TIME TRACKING:

-------------------------------------------
CHALLENGES:
Did I start the day in my planner instead of online?
Did I only check email when I was ready to write back immediately?
Did I clear my active to do list before any screwing around?
Did I avoid getting into arguments with idiots online?
Did I only check a site once, then done with it?
Did I prioritize books/good learning instead of mindless surfing?
Did I avoid sugary food?
-------------------------------------------
END OF DAY:
What are my key life goals? Spent 5 minutes on this.
Expenses for the day (estimate)?
Cash gotten or worked towards today:
What did I do right to move me towards my goals?
What would I do differently if I had the day to live over?
Plan tomorrow:
Set alarm:

Next up will be gradual tweaks and evolution of this template.

NOTES FOR PEOPLE THINKING OF TIME TRACKING

First, I highly recommend it. You'll see improve your awareness of yourself, how you spend your time, your habits, and reach your goals faster if you do this.

Second, remember to start simple. This is to build up momentum and make a workable system you actually use. Do it every day. If you miss a day or two or three, fill in from memory as best as you can. If you fell off a cliff for a while, just reboot. Don't beat yourself up too much - it solves nothing. We all fall off a cliff sometimes. Also, remember the gains made from living more purposefully are forever - the time you've spent well will remains well-spent even if you fall off for a while sometimes. Most people don't even try, which is why most people don't succeed.

Third, get inspired by mine, but definitely start smaller. Start with some easy wins and one straightforward yes/no question. My version zero was just writing down an idea or two. Add things slowly once you get the first version under control.

Fourth, I recommend you aim for roughly a 70% success rate, not perfection. At the end of the week, add more goals if you were perfect. If there was too much or you're overwhelmed, pare down and go simpler. I like to aim for 70% success - this means I'm always succeeding at more of my conscious goals than not, but I'm also always at my limit and adding new things.

Fifth, remember to customize to fit your goals. "Borderlands" is a reference to the bushido concept of meditating on your death, being aware that you'll die, and living your life aware of that. But then, I've read a lot about this, this wouldn't necessarily be a great goal for anyone. Likewise, you might have goals related to taking care of your kids if you have kids, or if you already never eat sugar but want to cut down on salt you might want that. If "all sugar" is too hardcore for you, maybe try not to drink soda to start.

Finally, I like to do at least a tiny review at the end of the day. "What did I do correctly today to move me towards my goals? If I did the day over, what would I do differently?" Those are great questions, I got them from Brian Tracy. A little review like that, some paying attention to your habits, and some paying attention to whether you're working on your most important things in your life are all good places to potentially start.

Have a think on this, feel free to come back and review the details and evolution of my daily tracking template. I'd strongly recommend trying it out, and I think you'll be rather amazed by all the progress you can make.

I love this idea, Ben. I am going to try this and see how it goes. The only thing is, when I try and email it to my gmail account, it doesn't give me the form to answer. It just sends me the spreadsheet. This is not ideal, but it works. I just have to use another email address to mail it to.

What about those of us who have 8-5 jobs that pay the bills and are a step in the right direction? Do you think it would be best to track time/goals in the time you are not at work? (I of course have some kind of tracking for the tasks I complete at work, but I don't think it would make sense to keep the two spheres of goals together at this point)

I got a warm feeling after reading this post. I feel slightly less estranged from the world after having discovered your blog today--and this article specifically. I figure it is because when we see someone else doing what we are doing, we feel validated, and are inspired to keep going. I've been doing this, without knowing it was a "thing" to do. I didn't know it was a term called Life Tracking. My "fear" is remaining stagnant, and not manifesting the life I imagine living. So I quantify everything I do, and I make a sequential To-Do list for each day (as well was long-term). It's sort of a safety mechanism that prevents me from becoming distracted, which I have a knack for. It's as if I'm writing lines of code for my body and mind to execute.

In addition to my morning ritual (which has solidified and doesn't need to be written anymore), I segment my tracking into three parts:

I just wish I could throw this onto a Heads Up Display in my eyes, so I could view these lists, horizontally panned out, all at once. It would be the ultimate way to stay focused.
I like the way you placed a colon after each objective for the day, waiting to place a check beside it. I envision it similarly. I pretend each goal is a large glass jar, and the tasks I need to accomplish for that goal to be realized are little marbles. Each day, I strive to merely drop one marble into each of my glass jars. If I do that... then I'm happy. And each day I do it, my happiness builds momentum, and it just becomes, on the whole, easy to maintain this momentum. Because, once an object has a lot of momentum, it becomes just as hard to stop that object, as it was to get it going (metaphorically, and literally).

Anyway, this was a long-winded way of saying thank you. Thanks, Sebastian. I'm excited to read your other articles with time.

I really really love your site, I think I'm hooked. This tip alone will greatly improve my life and I appreciate the time you take to give answers full of thoughts. Thanks a million times, it makes a LOT of sense to track time at work now. You are totally right, it'll forge great discipline habits.

THANKS MAN, you ROCK !!!

PS: Started sharing this time with my friends, so probably more readers coming your way!

Thanks a lot for the quick answer. I watched those videos and they truly helped (gotta create a solid & simple structure for the basics of time tracking, then expand from there).

However, I have a question. I work 40 hours a week (full-time job), but I also try to accomplish a lot on my personal web projects outside that timeframe of 40 hrs (mornings + evenings). Do you think I should be tracking my time spent at work too, if so, how? If not, why?

Read Next

I have a checklist that I use throughout the day, every single day. It slowly evolves as I delete items that are automatic or aren't helpful, I add and change things I want to become new habits.

The sections:

GENERAL - One or two things to remember through the day, for building new habits
START OF DAY - My morning routine, to ideally be done every morning, or at least tracked
MOST KEY ITEM - My biggest one or two things for the day. I evaluate whether a day is successful or not by whether I do one most key item
PEOPLE - More and more, I realize most important and meaningful things need to be done with people.
GENERAL - Funny that I named two sections General, hadn't realized until now. This is thinking about my life goals, cash has been added recently for tracking.
END OF DAY - A review of the day and some thoughts on the next day. Also, I add what time I went to sleep.

Here it is:

-------------------------------------------
GENERAL:
*Be decisive. Look at it once, make a decision, done.
*Live in the borderlands, awareness of the end in my heart
-------------------------------------------
START OF DAY:
Time awake:
Total sleep:
Vitamin C and Fish oil:
Stretching?:
Walk/run?:
Situps?:
Listen to audio?:
Food?:
Breathe:
Borderlands:
-------------------------------------------
MOST KEY ITEM:
Next milestones:
Objectives for today:
Time started:
Result:
-------------------------------------------
PEOPLE:
Blog post?:
New People (FB, Twitter, emails):
Current people:
Help someone:
Consorting:
Emails in box, start:
Emails in box, finish (and - why they there?):
-------------------------------------------
GENERAL:
*What are my key life goals? Spent 5 minutes on this.
*Expenses for the day (estimate)?
*Cash gotten or worked towards today
-------------------------------------------
END OF DAY:
What did I do right to move me towards my goals?
What would I do differently if I had the day to live over?
Plan tomorrow

I don't really feel like writing today. I've been working on the new version of my book all day, so writing's the last thing on my mind. Once I get going it's fine - it's just that picking a topic to write about and actually getting started are the hard part.

So I'll write about that.

For the past six months I've been doing Crossfit as I've mentioned many times. For the first four months I did it with a class that met three times a week. I never missed a single workout, even when I went up to Boston for christmas. I ran in the snow and did workouts in the basement with my sister.